The Bridge
Artist
Franz Kline
(American, 1910 - 1962)
Date1955
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: 82 x 54 1/2in. (208.3 x 138.4cm)
Overall: 80 x 52 3/4in. (203.2 x 134cm)
Overall: 80 x 52 3/4in. (203.2 x 134cm)
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Terms
Object number56.40
On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright© The Franz Kline Estate / licensed by ARS, New York, NY
Label TextIn 1951, Franz Kline commented about his distinctive bold paintings: "I kept simplifying the forms in black and white and breaking down the structure into essential elements. Eventually it came to this." He also emphasized that he did not paint black on white, but black with white. His paintings are a careful balance of space and weight, of light and form.
Like many modernist painters, Kline painted the essence of what he saw rather than the thing itself. A life-long city dweller, he was inspired by the atmosphere of urban industry and architecture. In 1958 he told poet Frank O'Hara, "half the world wants to be like Thoreau at Walden worrying about the noise of the traffic on the way to Boston; the other half use up their lives being part of that noise. I like the second half." Kline lived in New York from 1939 until he died in 1962 and The Bridge is one of his most direct evocations of his reflections on his surroundings.